You Should Be Happy
by MistressLeia24
Summary: We all ran the race, and yet Muffy was the one to recieve the prize.' A collection of oneshots based upon Jack's proposal to Muffy and how the other girls feel. Chapters up: Celia and Nami's.
1. Wilted Rose: Celia

**Wilted Rose**

**A/N: Been obessed with AWL lately and this what came out of it. (Don't ask about the title for the whole collection.) For starters, yes this will be a five-shot focusing on each of the girl's emotions to Jack proposing to Muffy. This one chapter is from Celia's P.O.V. while the next one will be Nami, Muffy, Lumina, and finally (possibly) Flora. I tried to get Celia's character just right, but it was extremely hard! Anyways, enoiugh of my rambling.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, they all belong to their copyrighted company.**

I suppose I should have seen it coming, but for some reason I didn't. I should have never leaped without looking first. I'll probably never know why I didn't predict it or in some way prepare myself for the final blow. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't want to believe it was happening. I didn't want to acknowledge what was staring me in the face the whole time.

The late visiting he started doing.

The dingy flowers I received compared to the freshly harvested crops he use to give me.

The fake smiles that seemed to hide unspoken lies I began to suspect.

I just didn't want to accept it! I didn't want to admit that my perfect dream guy was just leading me on. That it was just a "heartbreak waiting to happen" as Vesta had told me. I just wanted to curl up into ball and stay in my land of fairytales and make-believe while holding on to my distant, but fond, memories.

I didn't want to accept the cold hard truth that everyone seemed to be pushing on me.

…I didn't want to believe that he proposed to her.

I did not want to picture that glorious blue feather that my heart ached for being given directly to someone else by my ex-lover's hand. I didn't want to image her cheeks flushing and that perfect blissful smile spreading across her features that should have been mine while she gracefully accepted.

But most of all, I didn't want to see the perfect, untainted love that flowed between them as they paraded around town and told everyone of their marriage. I knew they would soon come to our farm, but I sadly wouldn't be there to congratulate them. How could I when I wasn't happy for them? Maybe I'm being selfish, but I can't put on those fake smiles that the other girls wear and wish their marriage well.

I can't be something I'm not, even if it is for only a moment.

One of those demeaning traits about me, I guess. I somehow also have to be truthful; like the flowers that never open up until they're good and ready, no matter how much I will them to. I can't lie under any circumstances.

Even if lying will make him happy, I can't.

I'll just lock myself away in the attic and tear the naïve diary entries of a lovesick girl to shreds, making sure that their forever scared words remain unread. I had meant to save the entries as love letters deliberately whispered to him through unspoken words when we were old and gray. I had wanted us to capture the same love we (supposedly) had before marriage for many years to come.

Of course, that scared desire had been shattered the day she said yes.

I can't really say that I hate Muffy because she spoke those words that my lips longed to say to his sweet face. And I can't really blame him for choosing her over me either. The barmaid is gorgeous with her voluminous locks and attractive figure. I'm what you would call "the average Jane" or girl-next door. Always the friend, never anything more. Sure I know more about farming then she does, but love really has no limitations I guess. Anything goes when that little cupid is involved.

But… I thought we had something special that couldn't be broken. A fairytale modern romance I guessed is what I called it. Those times by the spring, talking me out of my arranged marriage, pledging his love to me as the first dawn rays struck the earth…

I thought those meant something to him.

Obviously, they didn't.

When I heard about their engagement, I thought it was some cruel, cruel joke. He was supposed to propose to me, wasn't that how those romance novels ended? No sudden twist in the love tale or anything, just straight honest feelings all the way through as you watched their love grow. Another girl was not supposed to pop out of thin air, fall in love with the main guy, and then get married to him a few weeks later.

That… That wasn't how this worked. Th-There's supposed to be a happy ending for everyone, including me.

…Look at me. Comparing real life to silly fantasies used to lull children to sleep… Only Jack could make me go to this level of pettiness. Only he could shake my perfect stable world to its roots and then leave me to fix it.

I can't deny the fact that Muffy really did deserve him more than I. Heck, Nami deserved Jack more than me. I had a great future ahead of me with family and friends that cared. I just saw him as an added bonus or another spectacular addition to my nearly perfect life. Muffy had been left heartbroken millions of times, held no real job that paid any money, and had several drunken guys hitting on her every day.

He was her savior in disguise just as much as he was my murder.

I put my heart out on the line for him and he knew it to. But instead of being there to catch my heart when it got to the end of the rope, he let it hit the cold, barren earth with a sickening thud. Jack never bothered to make amends for his mistake or help to heal my broken heart.

In the end, I ran as far as I could, tried the hardest at everything I did, and risked everything that made my world mine for something greater.

…And that something greater than the sadness I once knew was heartbreak. The feeling of someone stomping on your heart and then leaving it out to dry. The feeling of everything that ever meant something to you being ripped out from under you and leaving you to crash into the ground, alone.

Like the flowers in the fields at the beginning of winter, my petals have snapped shut and withdrew to their warm, secure place far underneath the frozen earth. I tried to get as far down as I could, but somehow the cold still managed to nip my bare fingertips.

When I bloom in the spring again, because of that one little nip, nothing will ever be the same. My petals will be tainted a darker color, my stem will be stiff, and the way I carry myself will be slightly wilted.

I won't be able to laugh and tell him how happy I am for him when I hear Muffy's pregnant. I won't be able to smile and act likes that kind and tenderhearted girl when he and his family come to the Harvest Festival, all with happiness I'll never have.

I won't be able to go back to what I was before he crushed me. I'll never get that untainted innocent back. Never…

I can only hope, and that's all I'll ever do.

Hope and pray that somehow, someway I'll be able to become that proud and majestic rose that once stood alert as the silent guardian of the fields.

And when I do find someone who can mend what is broken…

And when he asks for me to take that jump of faith…

I won't rush in headfirst. I'll look before I leap. I will see what's coming before it happens.

And that's a promise.

**A/N: Pathetic ending, I know.I wanted to keep it short while diving into Celia's emotions as deep as possible, so this is what happened. Did you guys and gals like it? Hate it? Constructive cristism? Just click that little blue button down there that's literally pulling you into clicking on it and tell me what you thought! I appreciate all (if any) feedback and wish you all a very happy day!**

**Next Chapter: Broken Wander: Nami.**


	2. Broken Wanderer: Nami

**Broken Wanderer **

**A/N: 6 reviews!?!!?!! -Dies from shock and spirit comes back to tell y'all the rest- Thank you sooooooooooo much!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I never expected the first chapter the get that many reviews! THANK YOU!!!**

**Ahem, now on to this chapter. This is from Nami's P.O.V (which was extremely hard to write) and basically about how Jack promised her she could stay with him and then proposing to Muffy. Simliar to Celia's but I tried to make it as differnt as possible Enjoy! And Thank you!**

I have nothing to say to him. Nothing at all.

No words known to mankind could express the hatred, sadness, jealousy, and brokenness I feel when I see him strolling down these aged paths that I once walked long ago, with that damn smile plastered across his handsome features. No, not handsome. …Pathetic features.

More than once, I have felt the urge to strike my hand across his flawless perfection and scream every curse I know at him (The moon-shaped crescents from my fingernails digging into the callused palm of my hand can vouch for my evil desires if needed proof.) but somehow I always just walk by, my anger once again bottled up.

I want him the feel the pain and sorrow he put me through so many times. Making promises he could not and never will keep, raising my God damn spirits only to shoot them down again, and many other things he did that I wish not to remember.

I just want to put him through the same amount of torture he forced me to go through. Is that so wrong? Wanting justice for his actions?

Jack said he loved me and yet I never received the said feather that these people call a proposal.

She got it.

The girl with the Broadway style hairdo and model worthy body that star singers would be jealous of. The girl who toiled behind the bar counters all day and put on way too much make-up for her face to look perfectly natural.

In short, the girl who was not me.

Muffy could have had her pick from any guy in the valley if she just batted her freaking long eyelashes twice and yet she choose Jack. **My**Jack.

I suppose I can never put a claim on him, since he is human and free to make his own choices, but I cannot deny the fact that I thought of him as mine. I thought that our late night walks, silent conversations, and talks about farming meant something to him that was more than friendship.

He must have seen it differently.

I saw us as an item the day he came down the beach and told me that I could live with him until I got back on my feet.

Jack saw us as friends that would never live past the time he found that special someone. He saw those words as just meaningless promises of comfort that amounted to nothing.

I saw him as the one guy in the world that I could ever cry, yell, or laugh in front of. The only one I could open up to.

He saw me as a mere friend who harbored a deep crush on him beyond the silly school-girl level. I don't actually know if he knew that I liked, liked him, but I think he got the message that I wanted us to be at least past friendship level.

And then he had to go and makes probably the dumbest mistake of his life; propose to another girl while still leading the other three on. Yes, I knew about his constant flirting with Celia, Muffy, Lumina, and me. I saw the charming smiles he threw over his shoulder when he thought I wasn't looking, the amounts of flowers disappearing from the field and strangely appearing in the one of the girl's hands, and the supposedly "friendly" chats he had. …If you can call leaning in really close to that girl and twirling a strand of her hair around your finger, friendly and innocent.

In truth, I didn't mind the competition. None of the girls were really catty per say. Well, Lumina was a bit more defensive and Muffy was more of a flirt, but beside that we all accepted one another.

We all lined up at the starting line, our eyes set on the handsome boy, no, man at the end and waiting to be given the "Ready, set go!" We all ran at the same pace, not trying to trip one another or anything as Jack seemed to encourage us all with his hollow words. (They weren't hollow at the time, but they are now.)

We girls all knew that there could only be one winner and some of us even went out of our way to make sure he picked them.

We all ran the race, and yet Muffy was the only one who received the prize. The rest of us were left heartbroken and panting at the finish line while she went off to live her fairytale happy life with the prize we all wanted.

That's what I get, I suppose. My pathetic heart led me on to believe that he was that special one and ended up taking me in the completely wrong direction. While he sauntered down Muffy's lane, blue feather in hand, I was left alone at a dead end in the forgotten path I call love. The familiar heart wrenching loneliness and pettiness returning to me full force just like all the other times.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect him to be different. I did, and I guess that's what hurts the most. Knowing that he did have the qualities to be my dream guy and then falling for someone else…

Have you ever had someone you loved taken from you suddenly? Not by death or anything but by someone else? Do you remember that feeling? Well, that's what I'm going through right now.

I gotta say, my life sucks.

I have no more money to pay for a room at the Inn, I can't put Ruby and Tim out of money like that, I'm heartbroken, and I have literally no one to turn to. My only real friend in this village in Gustafa and I cannot ask him if I could stay at his place. One, his hut is barely big enough for one and two, what am I suppose to say to him? "Hey, my ex-crush got with another girl and dumped me from a place to live so could I stay here?" The last thing I want is to let everyone in the village know that I'm poor and that I had a crush on Jack. (Emphasis on had.)

I suppose I could still ask to stay with Jack, I mean he did promise me, but I could not bear to watch him and Muffy be all lovey-dovey. I would have someone kill before I had to lay witness to that. Plus, I don't want to be the stupid third wheel. It's either the second wheel or alone.

So… I'm leaving.

I've never stayed in any place longer than a year anyways and the call of traveling just keeps pulling me back. I love feeling the freedom underneath my feet and the feel of nothing tying me down. No strings holding me back, just complete open space.

I'll admit that I was pretty pathetic to think that I could ever stay in Forget-Me-Not valley. I mean, I'm me, the world traveler. I could never settle down, no matter how nice a guy is to me.

Tim, Ruby, and Rock might miss for a day or two, but they'll get over it and find another, kinder, traveler who actually has the money to stay here forever. As for the rest of the guy,...they'll get over it. I'll soon be a forgotten memory whispering in the wind whenever someone says my name. Jack probably doesn't even remember my name by now.

If I said that I was happy to leave, I'd be sorta lying. In true honesty, I loved it here. You got the right amount of freedom, people that weren't so judgmental, and a safe refuge that was untouched by darkness' hands.

If given the choice, I would probably stay.

But that choice was ripped away from the day she said "Yes."

I can't cope with living here every second if I'm haunted by the gifts I once had within my reach but failed to grasp. I don't think I could handle seeing Muffy and Jack walk down merrily down these roads, so lost in pure love. I can't manage smelling the intoxicating aroma of Ruby's cooking wafting into my room and not think of all the small dishes Jack once made for me. The magic grass red and blue flowers that I use to love watch bloom in the middle of fall now only remind of the bouquets Jack handed to me on that sunset bathed beach.

I'm sorry to all of those who care for me, but I cannot live in a village where every little thing reminds of the love I lost. Maybe in a few years I can come back and face my fears, but for now I'm leaving.

I can feel the wind tossing my messy red locks around and shifting the rucksack of my possessions I have slung over my back. Every step I take seems to remind of me of him and the competition I lost.

This will be my last moment in Forget-Me-Not valley. My last chance to tell him my feelings for him, even if they are mutual. If I tell him, at least I'll get that idiotic closure everyone says I need.

Of course, the stupid girlish giggles coming from Jack's farmhouse make me turn around and continue to stalk away. I do not want to tell him with Muffy there trying to sympathize all of her tragic heartbreaks with my one.

Maybe I'll tell him if I come back. Maybe…

One last longing look at the house that I wish I could live in, just ends up breaking my heart more. I wish… No, strike that. I don't wish for anything; I have everything I could possibly want right here with me.

I have nothing to say to him.

…Actually, strike that. I do have one pathetic line I would like to state before I depart. I will not be here to see their oh so happy wedding as the two parade around with those damn freaky smiles on their faces. So, I guess I should say it now.

Goodbye, Jack. I hope you live a happy live, cause I sure won't.

**A/N: So? How was it? Good, bad, horrible, sucked so much that you got sick, made you cry? Just push that little blue button down there that's just telling you to push it and tell me. Come on! You know you want to...**

**Again, thank you all so much for the reviews. You have no idea how much they mean to me!**

**Next Chapter will probably be Lumina's side. Title: Torn Freedom (still in the works) And thank you all againf or the reviews!**


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